Flesch, R. (1948) .
Flesch, R. (1948) .
example, in the study of psychology texts mentioned above (17), the score
of Koffka's Principles of gestall psychology ("the students' choice for un-
readability") was 5.4 ("difficult"); yet William James' Principles of
psychology, a classic example of readability, rated 6 0 (bordering on "very
difficult"). Similarly, the formula consistently rates the popular Reader's
Digest more readable than the sophisticated New Yorker magazine, al-
though many educated readers consider the Reader's Digest dull and the
sprightly New Yorker ten times as readable.
Aside from that, the practical application of the formula led to several
minor misinterpretations. Sentence length, for instance, is the element
with the heaviest weight; it is also the easiest to measure. As a result,
this feature of the formula is often overemphasized, sometimes to the
exclusion of the others—as in the directives that have been issued to staff
writers of the Associated Press and the New York Times, recommending
the use of shorter sentences in "leads " On the other hand, the second
element—number of affixes—seems often difficult to apply; users of the
formula found this count particularly tedious and admitted to uncer-
tainty in spotting affixes The third element—references to people—
raised no such questions; but it was sometimes felt to be arbitrary and the
underlying principle was often misunderstood.
In addition, many people found it hard to get used to the scoring
system, which generally ranges from 0 ("very easy") to 7 ("very dif-
ficult"). Also, the average time needed to test a 100-word sample is six
minutes (4) This makes the application of the formula considerably
faster than that of earlier formulas, which required reference to word
lists (e.g. Gray-Leary (8) or Lorge (10)), but it is still too long for prac-
tical use.
The revision of the formula presented in this paper is an attempt to
overcome these shortcomings and make the formula a more useful in-
strument.
Procedure
The criterion used in the original formula was McCall-Crabbs' Stand-
ard test lessons in reading (11) The formula was so constructed that it
predicted the average grade level of a child who could answer correctly
three-quarters of the test questions asked about a given passage. Its
multiple correlation coefficient was R = .74. It was partly based on
statistical findings established in an earlier study by Lorge (10).
For many obvious reasons, the grade level of children answering test
questions is not the best criterion for general readability. Data about
the ease and interests with which adults will read selected passages would
be far better. But such data were not available at the time the first
formula was developed, and they are still unavailable today. So McCall-
A New Readability Yardstick . 223
Crabbs' Standard test lessons are still the best and most extensive criterion
that can be found; therefore they were used again for the revision.
In reanalyzing the test passages, the following elements were used:
(1) Average Sentence Length in Words. The same element was used
in the previous formula, but the correlation coefficient used was taken
from Lorge's earlier findings In the present study this coefficient was
recomputed.
(2) Average word length in syllables, expressed as the number of syl-
lables per 100 words The hypothesis was that this measure would
furnish results similar to the affix count in the earlier formula. Syllables
are obviously easier to count than affixes since this work can be reduced
to a mechanical routine.
(3) Average Percentage of "Personal Words " The same element was
used in the earlier formula However, the opportunity was used to test
a clarified definition, which made no significant difference in correlation
The new definition was stated as follows All nouns with natural gender;
all pronouns except neuter pronouns; and the words people (used with the
plural verb) and folks
(4) Average Percentage of "Personal Sentences " This new element
was designed to correct the structural shortcoming of the earlier formula,
mentioned above By hypothesis, it tests the conversational quality and
the story interest of the passage analyzed. It was defined as the per-
centage of the following sentences Spoken sentences, marked by quota-
tion marks or otherwise; questions, commands, requests, and other
sentences directly addressed to the reader, exclamations; and grammati-
cally incomplete sentences whose meaning has to be inferred from the
context
To make the prediction more accurate, 13 of the 37C McCall-Crabbs'
passages that contained poetry or problems in arithmetic were omitted
m the count of the first two elements, which are designed to test solely
prose comprehension. However, these 13 passages were retained in the
count of the last two elements, which are designed to test human interest
Following the procedure m the earlier study, intercorrelations were
then computed. However, multiple correlation of the four elements
with the criterion showed no significant gain in prediction value over
the earlier formula in spite of the significant prediction value of the addi-
tional fourth element by itself (r = — 27). Therefore, two multiple-
correlation regression formulas were computed: one using the first two
elements and one using the last two This procedure had the advantage
of giving independent predictions of the reading ease and the human in-
terest of a'given passage
224 Rudolf Flesch
Finally, the resulting twin formulas were expressed in such a way that
maximum readability (in both formulas) had a value of 100, and minimum
readability a value of 0. This was done to make the scores more readily
understandable for the practical user.
Findings
The intercorrelations, means, standard deviations, and regression
weights found are shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3. The following symbols
were used: wl for word length (syllables per 100 words), si for sentence
Table 1
Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations, and Regression Weights
of Word and Sentence Length
si CM X 8 0
wl .4644 .6648 134 2208 13 6845 .5422
si — .5157* 16 5213 5.5509 2639
* After the preparation of this paper two articles appeared that pointed out a com-
putational error affecting the writer's original formula (Dale, E. and Chall, Jeanne S
A formula for predicting readability. Educ. Res Bull, Ohio St. Univ , 1948, 27, 11-20,
28, Lorge, I. The Lorge and Flesch readability formulae a correction. Sch & Soc ,
1948, 67, 141-142) The error concerned the correlation coefficient between sentence
length and the criterion, which had originally been reported by Lorge as .6174, the
writer, acknowledging his debt to Lorge, used that figure without recomputation The
corrected correlation coefficient is now reported as .4681 by Dale and Chall, and as
.467 by Lorge, this corresponds closely to the figure of 5157 reported in Table 1, con-
sidering the fact that the writer now used a slightly better criterion of 363 passages for
sentence length In other words, the formula presented in this paper incidentally
and independently also corrects the error found by Dale and Chall and by Lorge.
Table 2
Correlations, Means, Standard Deviations, and Regression Weights
of Personal Words and Sentences
ps C» X s 0
pw .2268 - 3881 7 3457 5 5175 -.3446
ps — -.2699 29.5745 35.5822 -.1917
Table 3
Means a n d Standard Deviations of Two Criteria
CM 5 4973 1 3877
Cn 7 3484 2 1345
Cm were higher than those with the criterion Cn, the multiple correlation
with the criterion C^ was computed first. As a second step, the values
so found were used to predict criterion C7&, since it seemed obviously
more desirable to predict 75% comprehension than 50% comprehension.
The correlation between the word length factor (syllable count) and
the corresponding affix count in the earlier formula was found to be
r = 87. For practical purposes the two measures may therefore be
considered equivalent.
The number of affixes per 100 words (a) can be predicted from the
syllable count (wl) by the formula* a — .6832 wl — 66.6017. Con-
versely, the number of syllables per 100 words (wl) can be predicted from
the number of affixes (a) by the formula • wl = 1 49 a + 94.56
Comment
It is hoped that the two new formulas will prove more useful than the
earlier formula. Formula A alone, with a correlation coefficient of .70,
has almost as high a prediction value as the combined earlier formula
whose correlation coefficient was .74. Formula B has a much lower
correlation coefficient of .43 and, accordingly, does not seem to contribute
much to the measurement of readability It should be remembered,
however, that because of the criterion used, Formula B predicts only
the effect of the two "human interest" elements on comprehension; in
other words, the correlation coefficient shows only to what extent human
interest in a given text will make the reader understand it better. The
real value of this formula, however, lies in the fact that human interest
will also increase the reader's attention and his motivation for con-
tinued reading
In addition, the two new formulas will be more useful for the teaching
of writing, since the added factor and the division into two parts will
show specific faults in writing more clearly.
The significance of Formula A will be more easily understood when it
is realized that the measurement of word length is indirectly a measure-
ment of word complexity (as mentioned above, the correlation is r — 87)
and that word complexity in turn is indirectly a measurement of ab-
straction the correlation between the number of affixes and that of ab-
stract words was found to be .78 (5). Similarly, the measurement of
sentence length is indirectly a measurement of sentence complexity
In two independent studies the correlation between these two factors
was found to be 775 (8) and .72 (15). Sentence complexity, in turn,
may again be considered as a measure of abstraction. Formula A, there-
fore, is essentially a test of the level of abstraction.
A New Readability Yardstick 227
Table 4
Comparative Analysis of The New Yorker (October 26, 1946) and the
Reader's Digest (November, 1946)
Old Formula.
Average sentence length in words 20 16
Affixes per 100 words 36 34
Personal words per 100 words 10 8
Readability score 3 59 3.05
New Formula A:
Average sentence length in words 20 16
Syllables per 100 words 148 145
"Reading ease" score 61 68
New Formula B.
Personal words per 100 words 10 8
Personal sentences per 100 sentences 39 15
"Human interest" score 49 34
228 Rudolf Flesch
and add the total to the number of words tested. It is also helpful to
"read silently aloud" while counting.
Step 4- Figure the average sentence length in words for your piece
of writing or, if you are using samples, for all your samples combined.
In a 100-word sample, find the sentence that ends nearest to the 100-
word mark—that might be at the 94th word or the 109th word. Count
the sentences up to that point and divide the number of words in those
sentences by the number of sentences In counting sentences, follow
the units of thought rather than the punctuation, usually sentences are
marked off by periods; but sometimes they are marked off by colons or
semicolons—like these. But don't break up sentences that are joined
by conjunctions like and or but.
Step 5. Figure the number of "personal words" per 100 words in
your piece of writing or, if you are using samples, in all your samples com-
bined. "Personal words" are: (a) All first-, second-, and third-person
pronouns except the neuter pronouns it, its, itself, and they, them, their,
theirs, themselves if referring to things rather than people, (b) All words
that have masculine or feminine natural gender, e.g Jones, Mary, father,
sister, iceman, actress. Do not count common-gender words like teacher,
doctor, employee, assistant, spouse. Count singular and plural forms,
(c) The group words people (with the plural verb) and folks
Step 6. Figure the number of "personal sentences" per 100 sentences
in your piece of writing or, if you use samples, in all your samples com-
bined. "Personal sentences" are: (a) Spoken sentences, marked by quo-
tation marks or otherwise, often including so-called speech tags like "he
said" (e.g. "I doubt it."—We told him. "You can take it or leave it."—
"That's all very well," he replied, showing clearly that he didn't believe
a word of what we said). (b) Questions, commands, requests, and other
sentences directly addressed to the reader (c) Exclamations, (d)
Grammatically incomplete sentences whose full meaning has to be in-
ferred from the context (e g. Doesn't know a word of English.—Hand-
some, though—Well, he wasn't.—The minute you walked out). If a
sentence fits two or more of these definitions, count it only once. Divide
the number of these "personal sentences" by the total number of sen-
tences you found in Step 4.
Step 7. Find your "reading ease" score by inserting the number of
syllables per 100 words (word length, wl) and the average sentence length
(si) in the following formula:
R.E. ("reading ease") = 206.835 - 846 wl - 1.015 si
The "reading ease" score will put your piece of writing on a scale be-
tween 0 (practically unreadable) and 100 (easy for any literate person).
230 Rudolf Flesch
Table 6
Pattern of "Human Interest;" Scores
Sample Application
As an example of the application of the new formulas, two recent
descriptions of the "nerve-block" method of anesthesia will be used.
A New Readability Yardstick 231
thin, stark-naked, and an obvious product of poverty and cheap gin mills,
was nervous and rather apologetic when he was brought into the operating
theatre. He lay face down on the operating table. Rovenstine has an easy
manner with patients, and as his thick, stubby hands roamed over the man's
back, he gently asked, ''How you doing?" "My hand, it is all closed together,
Doc," the man answered, startled and evidently a little proud of the attention
he was getting. "You'll be O.K soon," Rovenstine said, and turned to the
audience. "One of my greatest contributions to medical science has been the
use of the eyebrow pencil," he said He took one from the pocket of his white
smock and made a series of marks on the patient's back, near the shoulder of
the amputated arm, so that the spectators could see exactly where he was
going to work. With a syringe and needle, he raised four small weals on the
man's back and then shoved long needles into the weals. The man shuddered
but said he felt no pain Rovenstine then attached a syringe to the first
needle, injected the procaine solution, unfastened the syringe, attached it to
the next needle, injected more of the solution, and so on. The patient's face
began to relax a little. "Lord, Doc," he said. "My hand is loosening up a
bit already." "You'll be all right by tonight, I think," Rovenstine said.
He was.
A comparative analysis of these two passages is shown in Table 7.
The two passages furnish a good illustration of the stylistic features
measured and emphasized by the two new formulas.
Table 7
Comparative Analysis of Treatment of Same Theme in Life and The New Yorker
Life New Yorker
(290 words) (495 words)
Old Formula
Average sentence length in words 22 18
Affixes per 100 words 48 35
Personal words per 100 words 2 11
Readability score 5.16 3.20
New Formula A
Average sentence length in words 22 18
Syllables per 100 words 165 145
"Reading ease" score 46 66
New Formula B:
Personal words per 100 words 2 11
Personal sentences per 100 sentences 0 41
"Human interest" score 7 53
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A New Readability Yardstick 233
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